History is a love of mine so reading about the history of English was fun, albeit a bit technical at times. The chapter fit well with the video we watched this week (good planning, Dr. Smidt). I had basic background knowledge of Old, Middle, King James and Modern English, but the video and chapter enhanced that.
English is basically a Germanic language, which also interests me a great deal because I know German quite well. Reading about the inflectional nature of Old English made much sense because German is still very inflectional today.
Reading and viewing information about Middle English took me back to my high school senior year Brit Lit class. We read and spent much time on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In fact, we had to memorize the Prologue in its original Middle English. I remember hating doing that and really not understanding the words much. Now that I speak German much better, when I read or hear Middle English, it is really quite understandable, especially listening to it.
English has changed a great deal in its form, look and sound over the centuries. It has retained certain aspects/words from all its forms, but it continues to evolve. I wonder how technology, especially texting, will affect our modern English. Will Chinese, as the country becomes a greater power and influence in the world, affect English like English has affected so many other languages. Will we resist the influx of foreign words like the French have with English? It's important to know history. It helps us as teachers to know where we came from and where we could be headed.
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